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New EEOC guidance on religious discrimination in the workplace

The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) has issued a new section in its compliance manual on religious discrimination in the workplace. The agency concluded that the sharp rise in the number of religious discrimination charges, the growing religious diversity in the United States, and requests for guidance from stakeholders warranted the new compliance manual section. […]

Renhill settles with EEOC on age discrimination, race discrimination, and retaliation suit

Fort Wayne staffing company Renhill Services, Inc., has settled a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for retaliation and age and race discrimination. The company will pay $580,000 and up to $5,000 in settlement administrative expenses, according to the EEOC. The EEOC charged that Renhill violated federal law by failing to refer […]

Hispanic Heritage Month 2008

Hispanic Heritage month starts today and runs through October 15. In September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week, which was observed during the week that included September 15 and 16. The observance was expanded in 1988 to a month-long celebration. Hispanic Heritage month celebrates the culture and traditions […]

Managing Up–Get the Boss to Have Your Ideas

If you don’t get bosses to have your ideas, heaven forfend, they’ll come up with their own. And that spells disaster for both of you. Bill Oncken, late management training guru of Managing Management Time, used to say that managers need to get the boss to have the managers’ ideas. Face it, he said — […]

Primer on Travel Time Pay for Workers

by Leslie Sammon When does an employee’s drive to work become paid time? The Fair Labor Standards Act provides the federal rules governing pay for travel time. Employees covered by the minimum wage and overtime requirements (non-exempt employees) under federal law must be paid for all hours worked. Some states also have laws addressing travel […]

Palin and the Commish

It’s hard to escape all of the political news right now. If you keep an eye out, you can take something away from all the talking heads that you can use at work. Take some of the stories about vice presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin. The one that grabbed headlines recently was the story that […]

Words That Might Sound Like Age Discrimination

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of age discrimination claims. In fact, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), age discrimination charges rose by approximately 15 percent in fiscal year 2007. Many observers attribute that trend to the fact that more employees are choosing to work longer and […]

Combat-Ready HR: SPHR-Certified Colonel Shares Tips

By Robert BowenJust My E-pinion Today’s guest columnist, an SPHR-certified former lieutenant colonel, shares how he’s learned to make good use of “command” and “compassionate” people strategies. Robert Bowen, SPHR, Lt. Col. (Ret.), is the HR career coach at HumanResourcesCoaching.com. As human resources professionals, we often find ourselves “switching hats” between two distinct day-to-day roles: […]

Managers’ Myths about Sexual Harassment

Seems like managers would have gotten the message about sexual harassment, but many are still confused. Here are the facts about some of the most prevalent myths, taken from BLR’s Total Training Resource: Sexual Harassment. Myth–Harassment is something supervisors do to subordinates. Fact–Any employee can commit sexual harassment, including supervisors, subordinates to supervisors, and co-workers.  […]

Workers’ Comp Premiums May Be Headed Up

Since the workers’ compensation reforms of 2003, most California employers have seen a steady and welcome decline in their workers’ comp insurance premiums. But rates may be headed in the other direction starting in 2009.